1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices designed to accelerate volumes of air from one location to another, with the purpose of imparting a cooling effect and, more particularly, to an omni-directional air flow device that is user programmable and is adaptive to the environment. Examples of air flow devices include fans, air-conditioners, heating units and directional air flow vents associated therewith.
2. Background
People have used fans to keep cool for a long time. Initially, before the advent of electric and other motors, fans were either self-operated or operated by other people, such as servants. When electric motors became practical, fans powered by these motors came to be available. Such electric fans require access to an electric power source and a means to convert the electric energy into the mechanical energy needed to spin the fan's rotors.
An early problem with electric fans was how to adjust the airflow. The earliest electric fans provided airflows at a single speed and in a single direction. In order to alter the direction of the airflow, it was necessary to physically re-orient the fan. If a beneficiary of the electric fan happened to be sitting down and located remotely from the fan, he or she would have to exert some effort to get up, travel to the fan, and physically alter the direction of the fan and therefore the direction of the airflow. Importantly, the optimal direction of airflow could only be estimated. Additional fine-tuning of the airflow direction would require possibly multiple trips back and forth to the fan and multiple re-orienting efforts.
Further, a uni-directional fan, as described above, would not optimally re-circulate air in its immediate area. By definition, a uni-directional fan would move air solely from the area immediately behind the fan to an area immediately in front of the fan. Areas to either side, or above and below, would not be subject to most of the beneficial air-circulating aspects of the fan operation.
In an attempt to overcome these problems, the concept of adding automatic direction changing systems was introduced. These systems allow the fan to rotate about its axis such that the fan airflow moves along an arc of a certain fixed width. Typically, the fan is connected to a pole or support structure at its base. A rotating force derived from an electric power source is applied at the base of the fan, and the fan begins to rotate around its base, causing the direction of airflow to move laterally through a horizontal arc. The fan continues to move until the rotating base reaches a pre-established limit, or “stop”, on horizontal fan travel through the arc. At this point, the direction of rotation around its base is reversed, and the fan begins to return to its original position. The pre-established limit may be a mechanical or electrical adjustment on or in the fan structure.
In some versions, as the fan approaches its limit of fan travel, the rotational velocity of the fan decreases steadily and becomes zero when the fan is positioned at the stop. When the fan begins to rotate in the opposite direction, rotational velocity is increased until the fan approaches an opposite limit of fan travel whereupon the rotational velocity slows once again. This oscillation-like cycle can continue indefinitely for so long as power is available to the fan motor and the fan is turned “on.” Other fans are provided with continuously variable potentiometers and the like so that fan speed control is not, for example, limited to three speeds but may be continuously adjusted throughout the entire speed range of the fan motor.
Known central and window-unit air conditioning and heating systems, including space heaters and the like, may have fans and/or vents which are fixed in position and their fans may have speeds which are variable over time as a desired temperature is reached. However, such systems have no user-programmable air flow direction and, while associated humidifiers may have an associated humidity control, overall comfort control is provided without consideration of the environment and a comfort index calculated from both temperature and humidity among other environmental parameters.
Although the above systems improve upon the basic uni-directional electric fan, they do not completely solve the problems enumerated above. Air volumes located above and below the fan do not receive the circulation benefits to the same extent as air volumes located in front and behind the fan. Although the fan operates in a horizontal arc defined by its limit of travel, these types of fans cannot be adjusted to operate in any other manner. For example, they cannot sweep airflow along a vertically-oriented axis. Nor can these fans mix operational modes between horizontal and vertical arcs. That is, in a manner in which the fan, in rotating through its horizontal arc, also moves through a vertical arc at the same time.
Given the foregoing, what is needed in the art is an omni-directional fan device or associated vent system that can be configured to operate and control air flow in any direction, with any speed and orientation and also automatically adapt to surrounding environment thereby requiring a minimum of adjustment and allowing volumes of air on all sides to be adequately re-circulated.